Union Again Gearing Up for Wal-Mart Unionization
Battle

Supporting the new effort by the United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW) union are the
National Organization for Women, Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, and United Students Against
Sweatshops, the Associated Press reported.

Labor leaders say the civil rights and other groups
whose help unions seek can strengthen organized labor’s
hand in pressuring the giant retailer to improve wages
and working conditions.

Rallies are set Thursday in 40 cities.

Wal-Mart’s “Always Low Prices” guarantee comes with
a big price, coalition leaders say. They claim the
company keeps unions out with intimidation, harassment
and threats.

The company is not anti-union, spokesman Wertz
said. “We are striving to keep the close relationship
and direct communication we’ve always had within our
stores, and we feel a union as an agent or third party
would interfere with that,” he told the AP.

Thousands of lawsuits are filed annually against
the company alleging workplace abuse. Wal-Mart is
fighting 38 different state and federal lawsuits filed by
hourly workers in 30 states, accusing the company of
systematically forcing them to work long unpaid hours,
the AP reported.

Wal Mart: Not Guilty

Union officials say Wal-Mart workers are
underpaid, and two-thirds can’t afford the company’s
health insurance. The new coalition says the average
Wal-Mart worker makes $6.15 to $8.50 an hour and
works about 32 hours per week. Workers wanting family
health insurance must pay $192.05 every two weeks, or
about a third of their wages, the AP said.

Wal-Mart said the union was off base. “We
simply do not shortchange our people,” spokesman Bill
Wertz told the AP. “We offer our associates very
competitive wages and benefits.”

The only union success at a Wal-Mart came in 2000
in the butcher’s department in a Jacksonville, Texas,
store. After seven of 10 butchers voted to join the UFCW,
Wal-Mart announced it was closing its meat-cutting
departments in favor of prepackaged meat, the AP
said.

Wertz said the company does not track how much it
pays on average. About 80% of employees work full time,
most at least 37 hours a week, although 33 hours is
considered full-time, he said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville,
Arkansas., is the world’s largest private company with
3,200 US stores and 1,100 other locations worldwide,
posting $218 billion in sales last year. None of its
1.3 million employees belongs to a union.